Scientists were rated as
great heretics by the church,
but they were truly religious men because of their faith in the orderliness
of the universe.
(Albert Einstein)
Tao
Taoism was originally a form of ancient Chinese
physics.
It involved the observation of reality and the acknowledgement of
operational principles.
The world follows a 'natural order' and taoism studied this order.
Over time, ignorance and stupidity led to the formalisation of taoism.
It became a religion. Complete with
rituals, traditions, costumes and
superstition.
The essence, the substance was replaced by the outside
form.
Organised
religion means money, power, influence and
corruption.
Krishnamurti
Krishnamurti always sought to clarify what people meant when they
used the word 'god'.
Typically he found (through questioning) that people had a preconceived notion
of god, created through their education, upbringing and/or religious schooling.
Their opinion or acceptance defined and shaped god.
He asked a simple question: how can something self-created be real?
You see what you want to see, what you have been conditioned to see.
Krishnamurti was not denying the existence or possibility of god.
He merely questioned the convention, the image.
You may remember the story of how the devil and a
friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man
stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in
his pocket. The friend said to the devil, "What did that man pick up?"
"He picked up a piece of the truth," said the devil.
"That is a very bad business for you, then," said his friend.
"Oh, not at all," the devil replied, "I am going to help him organize it."
(Krishnamurti)
Science
Can we dispute the existence of god? Not really. Can we prove the existence of
god? No. Not really.
There is simply no evidence to support or dispute god.
People may argue that if there is no evidence to support god, then why
entertain the notion?
The early taoists saw that the universe seemed to follow a pattern. It had
order.
Was it a sign of intelligence? Is a plant/flower intelligent because it turns to face
the sun?
Existence makes sense in a way that the human mind could neither think nor
articulate.
We can only see the harmony and balance; hints of a greater order.
Taoists recognised the futility of seeking to label, categorise, explain or
understand nature.
Proof
A scientific mind neither accepts nor dismisses the possibility of god.
Until we invented the microscope there was no proof of microscopic life, but it
existed.
Quantum Theory is currently theoretical, hence the name. In the future it may be
proven or disproved.
There is more to existence than the human mind can fathom. This is not faith or
belief. It is fact.
Bias
The danger with science is that the experimenter is tainted by their own
education, perceptions, memories and choices.
Bias is inevitable. We choose to study something or not because of our opinions.
'Objectivity' is simply a conceptual notion.
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Page created 1 March 2007